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7.14.2016

Nintendo Announces "New" Console

And it’s NOT the NX

Nintendo has just announced a new (or maybe old?) console, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). A palm-sized, HDMI version of the old favorite is slated for release on November 11th this year.

"A palm-sized version of the old favorite is slated for release on November 11th this year."

The NES Classic Edition includes the system, one NES Classic Controller, (which will work with Wii and Wii U virtual Console games), an HDMI cable, an AC adapter and 30 pre-installed games. The list includes many favorites like Final Fantasy, Donkey Kong, Mega Man 2, and the three Super Mario Bros. Games.

Nintendo has said little about the hardware, but it doesn’t take anything state of the art to run the 8-bit classics. They’ve also mentioned that each game will have “multiple suspend points”, for resuming play at a later time without passwords. This suggests that the console will be some sort of emulator, rather than running the games natively. It then begs the question whether the games will be in their original, potentially bugged glory, or receive some minor updates.

This move by Nintendo is aimed at those who grew up with the console as well as those who have never experienced it. The console appears to have all of the same physical features of the original console at a smaller size, including the dust cover over the cartridge slot. This could be important, and brings to mind Nintendo’s fairly recent patent for a system “not provided with an optical disk drive for reading out a program and/or data from an optical disk.” This might indicate plans for some type of expansion card containing more games for the console, or just an attempt to keep the NES Classic’s appearance as faithful as possible.

"Nintendo's move is aimed at both those who grew up with the NES and those who have never experienced it."

The NES Classic will retail for $59.99. Anyone who’d like to know more about the console, including the full list of pre-loaded games, can check out the official Nintendo store page here.